A swirl was heard far behind in the wake. Inger-Johanna gave a vigorous pull; the yellow belly of a fish appeared a moment in the sunlight above the surface of the water.
She continued, after the first feverish jerk upon the line, in a half risen position, to pull it in.
When she lifted the shining fish high upon the edge of the boat, she burst out into a triumphant cry, "The first fish I have ever caught!"
Grip took the fish off the hook, and threw it far off. "Then it shall also be allowed to keep its life!"
The captain angrily moved his heavy body, so that it shook the boat. But that the ill-timed offering to the deep was made for the honor of the apple of his eye greatly mitigated the stupidity.
And when they got in under the knoll, where he cast his line, he suddenly sang a verse from his youthful recollections of the Bergen quarter, which had slumbered in him for many a long year.
I lay basking in the sun,
While the boat was drifting in the current,
I heard the sillock and climbed into the top,